Jeff Moss
Jeff Moss (June 19, 1942 - September 24, 1998) was a writer, composer, and lyricist for Sesame Street. His most notable songs include "The People in Your Neighborhood", "I Love Trash", and "Rubber Duckie", the latter of which achieved widespread fame when it was released as a single reaching number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970. Moss also served as head writer for a few seasons during the early 1970s. Moss is credited for helping establish the characters Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. Moss' work for Henson and the Muppets outside of Sesame Street include composing songs and score for The Muppets Take Manhattan and writing music and lyrics for the television special The Christmas Toy. Early years Jeffrey Arnold Moss was born in New York City. His father, Arnold Moss, was a Shakespearen actor, college drama teacher, and creator of crossword puzzles for the New York Times, and his mother, Stella Reynolds, had given up acting to become a soap opera writer. Moss displayed an appreciation for music and literacy at a young age. His parents kept recordings of classical music and Broadway show tunes around their house. He loved reading, and remembered discovering crossword puzzles for the first time while on a road trip. On his love for words: "I have always loved them and I still love them. When I'm sitting around, I play with them in my head, the way other people think about - I don't know - cars. I think a certain amount of that is just born into you. I think I would love words no matter what I did for a living - if I were a factory worker, or a doctor, or whatever."Something About the Author Volume 73 Moss studied at the prestigious Browning High School, where he was number 1 in his class. He then transitioned to Princeton University, where he joined the Triangle Club, a student-run musical comedy group that toured major theaters across the country. Moss wrote the book and lyrics, and appeared in two of the Triangle Club revues. After graduating from Princeton, Moss was offered two jobs at CBS as a writer for its news department or as production assistant on Captain Kangaroo. Moss chose the latter, the reason of which he explained in hindsight, "I've seen the news". Moss' stint on Kangaroo was cut short when he was called to serve in the army. While on a bus ride to a training session, he met future Sesame Street colleague Christopher Cerf. Moss returned to Kangaroo six months later as a staff writer, scripting sketches and songs until 1968. Among his contributions to the show is the song "When Ping Pong Balls Are Falling". ''Sesame Street'' .]] In 1969, Moss joined the writing staff of Sesame Street, where he reunited with several Captain Kangaroo alumni, including executive producer David Connell, producer Sam Gibbon, and producer/head writer Jon Stone. Initially hired as a staff writer, Moss' notable contribution came in writing songs, often collaborating with music director Joe Raposo. The first song Moss composed for Sesame Street, written to fulfill a script assignment to teach the number 5, was "Five People in My Family," performed by the Anything Muppets.Moss, Jeff, The Sesame Street Songbook introduction Other songs Moss wrote for the show like "The People in Your Neighborhood" and "I Love Trash" became long-standing classics, but it was "Rubber Duckie", Ernie's ode to his favorite bath time toy, that received mainstream pop status. Moss also played a key role in the development of two major Muppet characters: he helped establish the psychological conundrum of Oscar the Grouch and gave a previously unnamed voracious blue monster an obsession for cookies. Moss became head writer of Sesame Street for the next few seasons, succeeding Jon Stone. Moss explains his approach to writing for children: "I don't look at writing for children as that different than writing for anybody else. The emotions that you write about are for the most part the same as you would write about for anybody. You just do it with a vocabulary of experience that children will understand." Moss was originally going to resign as head writer after season 3, using the extra time to work on his own theatrical projects.Alumni Adventurers: "The Rubber Duckie Man" Princeton Alumni Weekly Volume 72, March 7, 1972 Ultimately, none of his plans got past development stage. In the next two seasons of Sesame Street (both of which would also be his final), Moss slowly shifted away from supervising the writing staff, concentrating on writing individual pieces; the role of head writer was eventually turned over to Stone once again. Moss left Sesame Street completely in 1974 (after season 5), although he continued to write songs as well as linking material for record albums. Some of the songs recorded for these albums would be performed on the show itself. Moss returned to Sesame Street as a staff writer and composer in 1982, contributing on an on-and-off basis until 1998. In addition to writing and composing, Moss occasionally lent his voice to several Muppet characters, including namesakes Big Jeffy of Little Jerry and the Monotones (for whom Moss has written most of their songs) and Jeffy, who sang "I'm Going to Get My Hair Cut" with Cookie Monster. He also voiced a Lavender back-up singer for Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats. Later years Over the years since his departure from and return to Sesame Street, Moss kept himself busy with numerous side projects, branching out into areas beyond television. He wrote the musical Double Feature with Mike Nichols and Tommy Tune. For Henson and the Muppets, Moss composed songs and score for The Muppets Take Manhattan, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song Score; he lost the award to Prince for Purple Rain. He wrote music and lyrics for the television special The Christmas Toy. Moss also wrote the songs "One Little Star" and "Upside Down World" for the first Sesame Street feature film Follow that Bird. Moss collaborated with composer Stanley Silverman on a one-act musical theater piece based on Igor Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale" for the Kennedy Center's "Imagination Celebration" children's arts festival in 1986."Sesame Street to Kennedy Center" Ocala Star-Banner, October 30, 1985 His television credits include the song "My Star" for the 1985 telefilm Ewoks: The Battle for Endor and songs for the stop-motion animated series Bump in the Night. Moss wrote several children's books with illustrator Chris Demarest. The Butterfly Jar, a collection of poems, includes three of Moss' Sesame Street songs: "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon", "Lonesome Joan", and "Nasty Dan". The poem "Not the Best Feeling" is a reworked version of "Mad". His other book of poems, Bone Poems, inspired by dinosaurs and early mammals on display at the American Museum of Natural History, includes illustrations by Sesame illustrator Tom Leigh. At one point, Moss had been working on a screenplay for an unproduced children's film entitled Zoo FantasyFestival Attractions.com - Jeff Moss biography (archived)with Francis Ford Coppola's production company American Zoetrope."ON SESAME STREET WITH: Jeff Moss; Making a Splash With Children From Morning Till Bathtime" New York Times, January 6, 1993"Sesame Street Storyteller" Washington Post, October 24, 1992 In 1991, Moss married Annie Boylan, sister of Sesame Street writer Molly Boylan. Later that year, they gave birth to son Alex. Moss was previously married to actress Marian Hailey (1973-85). Moss died on September 24, 1998 at the age of 56 following complications from colon cancer. On the same day of his death, he had been working on the song "You and You and Me", making it the last song he ever wrote.Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, Viking, 2008, p. 334Martin, Douglas. "Jeffrey Moss, 56, Writer and Father of Cookie Monster, Dies." The New York Times. September 26, 1998 Legacy In 2007, Princeton University ranked Moss as one of its 25 most influential alumni, citing the effect of his songs and characters on the Sesame Street audience. A chair at New York City's Hayden Planetarium is dedicated to Moss, immortalized with his name, dates of birth and death and the caption "Beloved Star". Recollections According to Michael Davis, author of the book Street Gang: “In his prime, Moss was a force of nature, a wiry, strong, wild-haired, sometimes combustible, not always loveable, but dependably brilliant television writer, playwright, poet, composer, and onetime actor.”Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, Viking, 2008, p. 332 Joan Ganz Cooney describes Moss as "a sort of child himself, and I don’t mean he had a way with children. I mean he, himself, was a kind of a child. He could be very difficult, very prickly. He could write anything, he could imagine anything. He himself was a very sober guy, not funny at all ... I loved him.”Princeton Alumni Weekly's 25 Most Influential - #12: Jeffrey Moss Esther Newberg, Moss' friend and literary agent, remembers Moss as "a world-class perfectionist ... never compromising his sense of the way a character should act or feel or talk just for the sake of a convenient rhyme. And right to the end, he always found time to share his insights and his flawless editor's touch with his colleagues." Composer credits ''Sesame Street Image:3513.jpg|Adding Image:3982o.jpg|Adding, Adding, Adding Image:Folge2412-11.jpg|Afraid Image:Dreamytime songs.jpeg|Afraid of the Dark Image:AllByMyself02.jpg|All By Myself Image:AllDressedUpBert.JPG‎|All Dressed Up 3962t.jpg|Animal Books File:LiveLP.jpg|The Arm FirstTimeLP.jpg|Baby Brother File:Bedoodledeedum.jpg|Be Doodle Dee Dum File:AMSong-BeforeAfter.jpg|Before and After Image:Listentothebells.jpg‎|Bells Image:Bigroundnose.jpg|Big Round Nose Image:Song.BlueberryMouth.jpg|Blueberry Mouth Image:Song.Bones.jpg|Bones Image:BreakfastTime.jpg|Breakfast Time Image:Song.brushboogie.jpg|Brush Boogie Image:Butilikeyou.jpg|But I Like You Image:CaptainVegetable.jpg|Captain Vegetable Image:3960l.jpg|A Cat Had a Birthday Circlegirl.jpg|Circle the Girl Image:Circlessong.jpg|Circles Image:NumbersLP.jpg‎|Climbing Nine Stairs CookieRockSong.jpg|Cookie File:Song.countingtoes.jpg|Counting Toes FirstTimeLP.jpg|Crossing the Street Image:Deedeedee.jpg|Dee Dee Dee File:DipDipShang.jpg|Dip Dip Shangalanga Image:1708m.jpg|Eight Beautiful Notes File:3333h.jpg|Everybody Laugh Image:Everybodys.jpg|Everybody's Got a Brain Image:EverybodysSong1978.jpg|Everybody's Song BBFrankie.jpg|Everyone in My Family Image:Everyoneicecream.jpg|Everyone Likes Ice Cream Image:Everyonemakesmistakes2.jpg|Everyone Makes Mistakes File:NoblePrice-Experiment.jpg|Experiment File:FatherSongMotherSongChildrenSong.jpg|Father (Mother and Children) Song Image:Mahnasesame2.jpg|Fat Cat File:2643streetstory1.jpg|Finish My Rhyme Image:Youngcount.jpg|The First Day of School Image:MonstersLP.jpg‎|Five Monsters in My Family Image:5peopleinmyfamily.jpg|Five People in My Family File:1709t.jpg|Flying FirstTimeLP.jpg|For the First Time LittleJerryandtheMonotones2.jpg|Four File:Seasonssong.jpg|Four Seasons (song) Image:3979l.jpg|From Your Head File:3084e.jpg|Get Wet File:2629i.jpg|Gina, Gina Image:Goinforaride.jpg|Goin' for a Ride File:HerryGoodMorning.jpg|Good Morning, Morning Image:GoodbyeFly.jpg|Goodbye Fly File:TheGrouchSong.JPG|The Grouch Song File:Folge2383-7.jpg|Hands File:Happy.jpg|Happy! Image:Whenitsmybirthday.jpg‎|Happy Birthday to Me 2485t.jpg|Happy That I Love Her Image:Happytomeetyou.jpg|Happy to Meet You Image:HiFriend.jpg|Hi Friend Image:1396d.jpg|High, Middle, Low File:Song.DescribeYourPet.jpg|Homer Image:3085l.jpg|Honk, Bang, Whistle and Crash File:Folge2564-6.jpg|How Did I Feel? Image:Howdoyougetfromheretothere.jpg|How Do You Get from Here to There? Image:ICanSingAnything.jpg|I Can Sing Image:Ernieonthemoon.jpg|I Don't Want to Live on the Moon File:1808f.jpg|I Got Me a Rooster Image:Everybodys.jpg|I Have Feet File:IHeardMyDogBark.jpg|I Heard My Dog Bark File:ILoveTrash1970.jpg|I Love Trash Image:Song.loveyouspring.jpg|I'll Love You In Springtime Song.GettingDressed.jpg|I Put My Leg in My Pants Image:Holdyourear1.jpg|I Want to Hold Your Ear Image:Hairfurcut.jpg|I'm Going to Get My Hair Cut 3069l.jpg|Imagine If You Would (A Ship Inside Your Mind) Image:Song.imaginethat.jpg|Imagine That Image:3187k.jpg|In My Book File:InMyNeighborhood.jpg|In My Neighborhood Image:Song.meetinsects.jpg‎|The Insects In Your Neighborhood Image:Ivegottwo.jpg|I've Got Two Image:Jfriends.jpg|J Friends Image:Just-One-Me.jpg|Just One Me Image:WonderfulMeSingle.jpg|Knock Three Times File:LetHim_Play.jpg|Let Him Play Image:Letsgodriving.jpg|Let's Go Driving Image:3622a.jpg|Let's Sing A Song That Everybody Knows File:Librarysong.jpg|Library Image:Everybodys.jpg|Listen File:2965a.jpg|Little Red Fire Truck Image:FirstTimeLP.jpg|Lonesome Joan File:Noimage-big.png|Loving All Those Things Image:Monstermeal.jpg|M-M-M Monster Meal Image:SSMad!.jpg|Mad File:Song.moonshine.jpg|Moonshine Image:Molove.jpg|Mountain of Love File:Pollydarton-musicsong.jpg|Music (song) File:2608a.jpg|My Baby File:My_Name_0244.jpg|My Name Image:Song.naptime.jpg|Naptime Image:NastyDan.jpg|Nasty Dan File:2485m.jpg|Near to You Image:Song.NoMatterHowYouCountThem.jpg|No Matter How You Count Them File:3140j.jpg|No Matter What Image:SSSingle.NoMatterLanguageCanta.jpg|No Matter What Your Language File:NoNoNo.JPG|The No-No-No! Image:SomeOfUsAreHere.jpg|None Some All File:Nothingtocount.jpg|Nothing to Count Image:Oatmealbox.JPG‎|Oatmeal Box Image:2293f.jpg|Octopus Blues Album.peopleneighborhood.jpg|On the Very First Day Image:OneOne-MakeTwo.jpg|One and One Make Two Image:OneBanana.jpg|One Banana Folge2475-14.jpg|One Bark (and Two Meows) Image:OneFineFace.jpg|One Fine Face Image:Song.onepotato.jpg|One Potato Image:3031d.jpg|One Small Voice Image:Song.OppositeStuff.jpg‎|Opposite Stuff Image:Myfavoriteletter.jpg|P Is My Favorite Letter Image:Peopleinyrnbhood.jpg|The People in Your Neighborhood Image:2754f.jpg‎|The Perfect Thing Image:Pct2.jpg|Pigeons and Cookies and Trash File:Elmo.PlanetsMoon.jpg|Planets, Moon and Stars File:2867-03.jpg|Practice Image:SSProud.jpg|Proud Image:SesameQuestionSong.jpg|The Question Song Image:Song.Rainfalls.jpg|Rain Falls Image:RaiseYourHand.jpg|Raise Your Hand Image:GroverElmoFavoriteColor.jpg|Red and Blue Image:Elmo.monalisa.jpg|Right in the Middle of My Face RockNRollStar.jpg|Rock 'N Roll Star Image:Rubberduckie1970.jpg|Rubber Duckie Image:SSSad.jpg|Sad Image:Sammythesnake.jpg|Sammy the Snake 4116u.jpg|School Rap Image:Song.scratchmyback.jpg|Scratch My Back File:2954d.jpg|See You Tomorrow File:3577e.jpg|Shake Your Head One Time Image:Everybodys.jpg|Shake Your Wrist Image:Song.sharing.jpg|Sharing Image:EBSix.jpg|Six (My Favorite Number Is) Image:Skin.jpg|Skin Image:CTWLullaby45.jpg|The Snufflelullaby Image:SS2BookandRecord.jpg|Someday, Little Children Song.Somethingsarelittle.jpg|Some Things are Big Image:Songofthecount.jpg|The Song of the Count Image:simonsoundmansong.jpg|Sound Song Image:0524 Sound of the Letter A.jpg|The Sound of the Letter A Image:YouLP.jpg|Special Image:Song.stillwelike.jpg|Still, We Like Each Other File:0295_04.jpg|Stop! Image:SSSurpriseSong.jpg|Surprise! Image:Song.tadpole.jpg|Tadpole Image:1993TakeaRest.jpg|Take a Rest Image:FirstTimeLP.jpg|Tall Enough Image:Album.singalong-lp.jpg|There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea Bae1.JPG|Things That I Remember Think-Of-Fingers.jpg|Think of Your Fingers Song.three.jpg|Three File:3587b.jpg|Tickle Song (I'm Gonna Tickle You) File:1808g.jpg|Tongue Twister Image:ELY08.jpg|Tu Me Gustas Image:Everybodys.jpg|Tummy Song Image:TwoGSounds.jpg|Two G Sounds Image:UpandDownMonsters.jpg|Up and Down Image:Everybodys.jpg|Up Goes the Castle Image:BirthdayLP.jpg|A Very Unhappy Birthday (To You) Image:Very Very Special Letter.jpg|Very, Very Special Letter Image:SSSingle.BoyFromIndiana.jpg|Walk Down the Street File:3675.ComingSoon.jpg|Walkin' the Dog Image:Song.wally.jpg|Wally Image:Song.earthlings.jpg|We Are All Earthlings File:3745e.jpg|We Three 2485c.jpg|Wedding Day 2485y.jpg|Wedding Pictures Image:Grover.jpg|What Do I Do When I'm Alone? File:WhatDoTheyDo.jpg|What Do They Do When They Go Wherever They Go? Image:2230a.jpg|When It's Cold Out Rocky-WigglyTooth.jpg|Wiggly Tooth Image:Everybodys.jpg|With Every Beat of My Heart Image:WonderfulMeSingle.jpg|Wonderful Me Image:WonderfulYucchy1.jpg|Wonderful/Yucchy Image:Bobopfamilysong.jpg|The Word Family Song Image:YoundYouandMe.jpg|You and You and Me Image:YouTickleMe.jpg|You Tickle Me The Muppets Take Manhattan See also: [[The Muppets Take Manhattan (soundtrack)|''The Muppets Take Manhattan soundtrack]] Image:Marriage.jpg|He'll Make Me Happy Image:Igaly.jpg|I'm Gonna Always Love You Image:Rat_scat.JPG|Rat Scat (Something's Cookin') Image:Rightwhereibelong.JPG|Right Where I Belong Image:Sayinggoodbye.jpg|Saying Goodbye Image:Somebodysgettingmarried.jpg|Somebody's Getting Married Image:Togetheragain.jpg|Together Again Image:Canttakeno.jpg|You Can't Take No for an Answer Other Productions Image:Onelittlestar.JPG|One Little Star (from Follow That Bird) Image:Upsidedownworld.JPG|Upside Down World (from Follow That Bird) File:ToysLoveToPlay.jpg|Toys Love to Play (from The Christmas Toy) Image:RugbysSong.jpg|The Greatest Christmas Toy of All (from The Christmas Toy) Image:TryTheImpossible.jpg|Try the Impossible (from The Christmas Toy) Image:Meteora (song).jpg|Meteora (from The Christmas Toy) Image:ChristmasToy.jpg|Together at Christmas (from The Christmas Toy) Credits Episodes Sesame Street episodes written by Moss include:episode scripts via a trusted source Books and Oscar with (clockwise from top) Dulcy Singer, Lisa Simon, Norman Stiles, Jeff Moss and Jon Stone.]] * People in My Family (1971) * People in Your Neighborhood (1971) * The Sesame Street Storybook (1971) * Cookie Monster's Circle Book (1972) * The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook (1973) * The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974) * Oscar's Book (1975) * The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales (1975) * Oscar-the-Grouch's Alphabet of Trash (1977) * The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook (1978) * The Sesame Street Library (1978-1979) * People in My Family (1983) * The Sesame Street Treasury (1983) * The Songs of Sesame Street in Poems and Pictures (1983) * The Sesame Street Book of Poetry (1992) Albums Moss is credited as a writer on all albums, unless noted otherwise. * The Sesame Street Book & Record * The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album * The Muppet Alphabet Album * Sesame Street LIVE! - also directed * ¡Sesame Mucho! * Aren't You Glad You're You? - Musical Arrangements * Numbers! * Happy Birthday from Sesame Street * What Time Is It on Sesame Street? * Fair Is Fair - Executive Producer * Every Body's Record * The People in Your Neighborhood * Exercise! - Project Consultant *''For the First Time'' * Sesame Street Sing-Along! * Jim Henson: A Sesame Street Celebration - Music Consultant Sources External links *Festival Attractions, Inc., Jeff Moss's publisher, on Internet Archive *IMDb *17 minutes with 'Sesame Street' co-creator and 'Rubber Ducky' writer Jeff Moss __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Writers Category:Composers Category:Lyricists Category:Authors Category:Muppet Voice Actors